However, the royal family of the Gilded Kingdom hid their trump cards very well, and even the people of the several old noble families might not know about it. It wasn’t that there hadn’t been any rebellion in the history of the Gilded Kingdom. In fact, there was even a large family that wanted to take the royal family’s place. However, those several rebellions ended in strange ways, even before the royal family showed their trump cards.
The family that rebelled was originally the head of several old noble families, and was conferred with the title of Ocean Dragon Family by the founding lord of the Gilded Kingdom. When the Ocean Dragon Family was in rebellion, their naval fleets and army all held a large amount of power in the Gilded Kingdom. There were three Sanctuary powerhouses in charge too. There were even rumors that the Illuminati was secretly in support of the rebellion. Although they were only rumors, it was a matter of fact that the Illuminati had been maintaining a neutral position in the civil war.
Thus, the rebels almost bulldozed through the Gilded Kingdom, taking every island under their control before finally surrounding the capital of the Gilded Kingdom. Almost everyone thought that there would be a new leader in the kingdom if the Illuminati didn’t intervene.
However, no one expected that the situation would be reversed overnight even without the help of the Illuminati. The three Sanctuary powerhouses of the Ocean Dragon Family somehow went missing, while the generals of the rebel army also vanished. The Ocean Dragon Family lost everything overnight.
Not to mention others, it was said that even the Illuminati could not figure out what the royal family of the Gilded Kingdom had done. The vast majority of people merely attributed everything to the will of God. Some also claimed that it was because they were favored by God. All in all, the rebellion soon came to a halt, and the Ocean Dragon Family was removed from the Gilded Kingdom.
That incident was the reason that the Illuminati had scruples about the Gilded Kingdom even though the latter seemed weak on the surface. Although the Illuminati was obviously much stronger, they could not suppress the royal power. The royal family of the Gilded Kingdom did not use their unknown trump card to suppress the Illuminati. It was unclear if it was because they didn’t want to reveal it, or because it didn’t hold enough power.
However, in any case, this balance between the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati was a chance for others to develop. After the removal of the Ocean Dragon Family, the few remaining old families still held military power and various important resources of the Gilded Kingdom that could last for generations. However, no one thought about becoming the king anymore.
The few old families included Cridia’s Whale Family, Cate’s Ice Bear Family, Burgess’ Albatross Family, and so on. Their positions in the Gilded Kingdom were handed down to them according to the line of succession. After all, they were deep-rooted families, and it was unlikely that there were idiots who would take control. For example, the Great Whale Family had been in control of the first fleet of the Gilded Kingdom for generations, while the Ice Bear Family was in control of the elite army, and the Albatross Family had occupied the post of chancellor of the Gilded Kingdom for generations.
Although those families almost no longer had the intention to rebel due to the fear of the royal family’s trump cards, it didn’t stop them from seeking benefits for their respective families. Moreover, the balance that had been struck between the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati was the very reason that they had the opportunity to gain a lot of benefits by chance.
Using the power and authority they held, the several old families took the opportunity to take advantage of the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati to reap benefits in an almost unrestrained manner. While acquiring massive wealth, those families also gradually formed a third party force. Although it was still far from being comparable to the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati for the time being, it would probably rise to become on par with them in the future.
Of course, with their current ability, it was almost impossible to reach the point where they could contend with the Gilded Kingdom or the Illuminati. After all, the Gilded Kingdom was now still holding a trump card that others couldn’t fathom, and the strength that the Illuminati had accumulated for thousands of years was known to all. Hence, even if they formed a trinity with the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati, it didn’t mean that they could contend with either party or make the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati afraid of them. Rather, they simply became the key factor that would affect the balance of the forces. If they defected to either party, they could work together with the said party against the remaining party. That would result in the suppression of a single party, so neither of the other two would dare to harm the third party force easily.
Another point was that Burgess’ son, Cantory, was now a disciple of the lord of the Illuminati and the most promising candidate who had the greatest potential to become the next lord. Indeed, if Cantory really became the next lord of the Illuminati, they would probably have enough power to suppress the royal family of the Gilded Kingdom.
However, if the Illuminati and the Supreme Council reached a secret agreement that would destroy the balance between the Gilded Kingdom and the Illuminati, it would indeed be rather terrifying for them.
First of all, if the Illuminati could gain the power to completely suppress the Gilded Kingdom, the third party force that they had formed would become somewhat redundant. Secondly, their means of amassing wealth were not exactly honest and upright. Once the Illuminati no longer had to be wary of and scrupulous towards the Gilded Kingdom, they might just slaughter them like fat sheep.
Even if the Illuminati did not take it out on them, the royal family of the Gilded Kingdom might confiscate their power one step at a time in order to strengthen its own ability to resist. After all, after the Ocean Dragon Family’s rebellion, the Gilded Kingdom no longer trusted the old families as much as they used to in the beginning. They allowed the families to continue holding power only because they didn’t want to cause chaos and force the families to go to the Illuminati’s side.
In fact, after the rebellion of the Ocean Dragon Family, the royal family of the Gilded Kingdom had begun to gradually support the emerging force. The rise would naturally have to begin by taking some power from the old families and giving it to the new force, but those families were not that easy to deal with. If they didn’t make any mistake, it wouldn’t be appropriate for the royal family to fall out with them. Hence, the emerging force that had the support of the royal family had not really touched the core interests of those families, nor could it go against them.
Due to Cridia’s words, the group led by Burgess began to let their imagination run wild, and the more they thought about it, the more terrified they were. They had seen with their very own eyes how affable Saint Edmund, who was usually austere and aloof, was to Felic, the fourth arbitrator of the Supreme Council. If the Illuminati and the Supreme Council didn’t have any close relations, how could Edmund have treated Felic so nicely?
“No, this can’t go on, I can’t let the Supreme Council and the Illuminati cooperate!” Cate exclaimed. Since he could become the military chief commander of the royal guards, he was naturally not an ignorant fool who was completely clueless. He soon thought of the terrible consequences that would entail. However, he couldn’t think of a solution for the problem. The Illuminati didn’t belong to him anyway, and all he could do was clamor meaninglessly.
Burgess turned to look at his son, Cantory, in hopes that the latter could give him some useful information that he had obtained as the disciple of the lord of the Illuminati.
However, in the face of his father’s inquisitive gaze, all Cantory could do was shake his head helplessly, and say, “I haven’t heard a single thing about this matter, and I doubt they’d tell me about it, either.”
It was true that Cantory was the disciple of the lord of the Illuminati, but he was just learning magic from him, and had no right to really participate in the making of the important decisions of the Illuminati. Besides, his identity was known to everyone, and the members of the Illuminati were no fools, either. Hence, how could they possibly tell him about such an important matter?
Although Cantory relied on his status to build some connections among the Illuminati, he definitely couldn’t get close to someone as authoritative as Saint Edmund. Not to mention that he hadn’t become the lord of the Illuminati yet, even if he really succeeded the lord, the four saints would not take orders from him.
“In fact, what I am most worried about now is not about surviving while being sandwiched between these two parties, though it’s just as important. Our family has been operating in the Gilded Kingdom for such a long time, and this matter will at most cause our family to decline for a while. We won’t be overthrown, but…” Burgess said worriedly.
Burgess’ words baffled everyone. What could be more important than the destruction of their livelihood and survival? Once their conjecture became true, these families would lose the right to continue doing the things that used to bring them massive benefits, even if they might not be suppressed immediately. They had to stop doing many of the things they used to in order to avoid letting the royal family and the Illuminati get hold of evidence against them.
“Burgess, what are you saying? Shouldn’t you be the most worried about our future?” asked Cridia. He didn’t hide his concerns, since they were all in the same boat.
Barges nodded slightly and glanced at them before saying in a low voice, “What I’m worried about is that there might be a huge disaster if the royals or the Illuminati find out about the things that our ancestors have left for us.”
When they heard Burgess bring up the matter that they almost never talked about, everyone’s face stiffened immediately. The atmosphere in the room began to become bizarre too.